Ponies need to go

17042007

Twelve Exmoor ponies are having to leave their home at Coates Common, near Fittleworth.

The herd has been grazing the Lord’s Piece area of the common for the last eight or nine years, after English Nature – now Natural England – advised the owner, the Barlavington Estate, that they would control scrub growth.

Estate manager Stanley Mayes, who is now retired, collected the original seven from Exmoor and has since bred the other five.

He said: “I have now been told they are interfering with the colony of crickets on the common and must go. As I put them there, I have the job of getting rid of them.” Link

2 responses

Could somebody tell me if this place is near Barlavington ?
If so, then it is possible these ponies are now grazing on heathland in Suffolk doing a valuable job on an RSPB nature reserve.

But my interest is in fungi though and these horses have introduced a very rare fungus to Suffolk and it is possible the horses ate grass with the fungal spores attached before they were moved to Suffolk.
Your help will be very important.